Moore Threads Technology, a Chinese graphics processing unit (GPU) start-up founded by a veteran of Nvidia’s China operations, has become one of the most closely watched semiconductor players in the country, as domestic AI chip designers race to displace the U.S. chip giant. The Beijing-based company received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) for an initial public offering (IPO). It took just 88 days from filing the application in June to receive approval, making it one of the fastest cases to get the green light to list on the Nasdaq-style Star Market. The hastened timetable was the latest sign of how China is doubling down on efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the chips that provide the computing power needed for the development of AI models, as the U.S.-China tech war intensifies and casts a shadow over Nvidia’s future sales in the country. “Moore Threads’ rapid IPO process shows that the domestic GPU industry is entering a critical period,” said Zhang Xinyuan, Analyst from Beijing-based think tank Kefangde. The listing, in which Moore Threads expected to raise CNY8 billion, would significantly accelerate the large-scale commercialization of the company’s GPUs, Zhang added.
Behind the Moore Threads’ story is James Zhang, its founder and CEO, who previously spent 14 years working for Nvidia. He was Vice President at Nvidia and General Manager of its China operations before leaving in 2020 to start his own company. Zhang, a computer science graduate from Nanjing University of Science and Technology, joined Nvidia in 2005 and was credited with helping it expand in the mainland market over the years. Before Nvidia, he worked for U.S. tech companies including HP and Dell. Zhang’s pedigree also gave Moore Threads immediate credibility. Many of the start-up’s early recruits came from Nvidia and its U.S. rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The company also attracted investors including GGV, Sequoia China, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings. Those relationships helped the company quickly scale up, pulling in hundreds of millions in venture funding and a multibillion dollar valuation prior to the implementation of tighter U.S. tech curbs.
Similar to peers like Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies, Moore Threads was also targeted by U.S. sanctions. In October 2023, it was added to Washington’s Entity List, along with fellow Chinese AI chip start-up Biren Technology. Two years later, the company proved that it could achieve rapid revenue growth using a domestic supply chain as it rode the wave of surging demand for AI computing. In 2024, Moore Threads reported revenue of CNY438.5 million, with an annual compound growth rate of over 200% over the past three years.
The company has so far launched four generations of GPU architecture: Sudi, Chunxiao, Quyuan and Pinghu. The latest generation, launched in 2024, was able to support training and inference of AI models with trillions of parameters and could be used for pre-training of cutting-edge large language models (LLMs) like those from DeepSeek. However, the company has yet to make a profit owing to its R&D expenses and inventory buildouts. It posted a net loss of CNY1.5 billion in 2024, compared with CNY1.7 billion a year earlier, the South China Morning Post reports.
